Expedition Description

In October of 2012 Waitt sent its two Autonomous Underwater Vehicles onto an expedition to study seamounts and submerged canyons off the north eastern United States. We worked with Peter Auster and Morgan Kilgour from the University of Connecticut as well as the Natural Resources Defense Council. The Waitt AUVs were provisioned with new color cameras, custom built at the Oceanographic Services Lab of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, our partner in operating the AUV system. We charted the M/V Scarlet Isabella out of Boston and conducted our effort from Woods Hole out to the Continental Margin, some 100 to 200 miles offshore. The expedition was successful but not without serious difficulties that led to the loss of one of the two Waitt Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. A subsequent rescue mission for the twelve foot two thousand pound vehicle was unsuccessful. This was the last Waitt Expedition deep submergence expedition, shortly after this expedition the Waitt entities moved toward the creation of Marine Protected Areas and other ocean conservation policy oriented efforts, culminating in the Blue Halo Initiative.